Process of extracting nitrogen from air.



E. M. WILEY.

PRQCESS OP EXTRAGTING NITROGEN PROM AIR.

APPLIOATION FILED M1121, 1911.

l,C56,24/1 Patented Mar. 18, 1913.

by Y

Attorneys EDWARD M. WILEY, 0F ADAMS, INDIANA.

PROCESS 0F EXTRACTING NITROGEN FROM AIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led April 21, 1911.

Patented Mar. 18, 1913.

seria1 No. 622,523.

T 0 all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD M. WiLEY, a citizen of the United States, residingat Adams, in the county of Decatur and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Process of Extracting Nitrogen from Air, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new and useful method of reducing the proportion of nitrogen to oxygen in air.

One of its objects is to utilize as a motive force'the air being acted upon, this air con-l solubility and partial pressure. For example, should air be at 760 m. m. and its com:N`

position be 1/ 5 oxygen and 4/ 5 nitrogen, the separate solubilities of the gases are respectively 4 and 2 volumes in 100 volumes of water. Their partial pressures being 1/5 and 4/5 of an atmosphere, the amounts actually dissolved will be in 100 volumes ofwater. The 'ratio of full oxygen to nitrogen will therefore be 1 :2.

In carrying out the invention a desirednumber of sets of tanks and pumps are utilized, each set or unit including a high and pressure tank 1, a lower pressure tank 2, and

a pump made up of a power cylinder 3, an air containing cylinder 4 and a water con taining cylinder 5. A water forcing piston 6 is located-in cylinder 5, a drive piston 1s arranged in cylinder 3, and an `air forcing piston S is located in cylinder 4, all three of the pistons being Xedly connected to a rod 9. High pressure tank 1 has an air inlet 10 leading from a suitable air compressor A and provided with a valve 11 for preventing back flow of fluid from the tank. An outlet pipe 12 extends from the bottom of tankl to one end of cylinder 5. Another pipe 14 extends from the other end of cylinder 5 and opens into a' nozzle 15 extending upwardly within tank 1 from the bottom thereof and adapted to direct a spray of water against a spreading dome 16 ported in the upper portion of the tank.

A11 outlet pipe 18 extends from the top of tank 1 and opens into inlet .ports 19 and 20 formed at the ends of cylinder 3, the outlet ports2l and 22 of said cylinder opening into a `pipe 28 extending to the inlet ports of the cylinder 3 of the next unit. -A pipe 24 extends from an outlet ort formed at that end of cylinder 5 to w ich pipe 12 is connected, this pipe 24 discharging into a nozzle 25 which extends'upwardly within the tank 2. Said nozzle is adapted to discharge a spray of water upona spreading dome 26 supported'in tank 2. Another pipe 28 connects the bottom portion of tank 2 with that end of cylinder 5 to which pipe 14 is connected.

. An outlet pipe 30 extends from the upper end portion o tank 2 and opens into the inlet ports 31 at the ends of cylinder 4 and the outlet ports 32 open into a pipe 33 which serves to conduct air under pressure to the inlet 1Q of the 'tank 1 of the next unit. The ports19, 20, 21 and 22 of cylinder 3 may be provided with any desired valve mechanism for opening and closing them in proper succession to insure reciprocation of the piston 7 when air under pressure is directed into the cylinder. Such mechanism is so well known vthat it is not deemed necessary to illustrate or describe it in the present case. The same valve mechanism would be lextended to the various ports in the cylinder 5 to produce the effect of admitting water from the high pressure tank lthrough pipe 12 into one end of cylinder 5 and discharging the same volume of water into tank 1 through pipe 14 from the other end of cylinder 5 at one stroke of' the pump, and with the opposite stroke of the pump the water in the cylinder would be discharged into the low pressure tank 2 through pipe 24 and an equal volume' of water received from tank 2 into thev other end of cylinder 5 through pipe 28. The ports 31 in cylinder 4 have valves 34 for preventing escape of air therethrough from the cylinder 4 while ports 32 are also provided with valves 35 to prevent the admission of air throu h them and into the cylinder. All of the unitsV p vcylinder l by piston d and discharged, under ordinary nir consists oit about one yoluine of the oft the saine general arrangement as has been described and the air outlet ports 36 oit the tanh l. ot the third unit connected by an oyeiadow pipe 37 to the Neine 33 ot the next 'preceding unit and the outlet B6 ot. the second unit is s'nnij larly connected to inlet l@ o' the tanlr et the hrst unit, each pipe 37 having a yalye B8 to preyent bach How oi air therethrough.

tiro-in the foregoing it will be apparent that when air under pressure is admitted to inlet l@ it will rise through the water in tanlr 'l oit the tiret unit, pass through pipe 18 to power cylinder 8 and cause the piston l to reciprocate.. Piston t will also be reciprocated and will spray water into the cornpressed air in tanlr 'l and withdraw an equal amount oat at the saine time trono the tant: and spray it into tanlr 2 'trono which an equal quantity is drawn back at the same time into cylinder 5, thus completing a cirenitD yllhe air in tanlr 2 is then drawn into pressure, into the inlet l0 et tank l of the next unit. Let it be assumed that the capacity ot the tiret unit ot the apparatus is one hundred gallons ot water per minute, ot the second nity gallons per minute, and ot the thii set thirty gallons per rninute, and the pressure in the tanlrs l about thirty atmospheres, or toll lbs. to the square inch. As the solubility et oxygen in water is about :tour yolnrnes to one hundred volumes oit water, and ot nitrogen about two Volumes to one hundred yolnroes ot water, and as of oxygen and tour yolnnies ot nitrogen, one hundred gallons ot water will, as a result oit the partial pressure ot each gas and the diserent solubilities thereot, absorb l/ X1k-M5 gallons et l rrygen at a ot one atmosphere and Allt/5 E( 30 2st allons a pressure ol t@ atmospheres. or the saine reasons the sani-e one hundred gallons water will absorb gallons et nitrogen et a pressure oil one atmosphere and at @il atmospheres the absorption will nnaonnt to ture in the proportion oli one yolurne et rnrjytIl gen to two volumes ot nitrogen. Water in the tant; l oit the second unit would absorb l/BXd-:t/ gallons of oxygen and gallons ot nitrogen at the pressure of one atmosphere :tor 100 gallons ot water. -itin: the capacity ot this unit is only 50 gallons per minute and, the pressure being thirty atmospheres, twenty gallons ot' oxygen (i/3|2:2/3 30=60/3=20 gallons) and twenty gallons ot nitrogen (fl/e-teza/exsozeo/heo genees) will be exhausted from the low pressure tanlr 2 ot the second unit and torcecl into the tenir ot. the third unit, the mixture thus produced consisting ot one gallon oit oxygen to one gallon ot nitrogen. Applying the :toregoing rule, the 'third unit having a capacity ot thirty gallons per ininute would yield eighteen gallons ot oxygen and nine gallons ot nitrogen, this being in' the proportion ot 2 to il. Thus is produced from the iirst unit twenty-tour gallons ot oxygen and t8 gal ,lons ot nitrogen equalingmm gallons et one oxygen to two nitrogen; from the second unit twenty gallons ot oxygen and twenty, gallons oi nitrogen, equaling forty-gallons ot one oxygen to one nitro en; and trein the third unit eighteen gallons oil oxygen and nine gallons ot nitrogen, equaling twenty, seven gallons ot two oxygen to one nitrogen. tlbviously, the foregoing process can be carried out indehnitely it being limited, solely by the number of units foro nloyedu As the third nnit receives forty gallons per noinute trom the second unit and discharges twenty-seven gallons er minute, it will have an oyerldow ot thirteen gallons ot air per minute and this will return to the tank l ol? the second unit.. As thistanlr recettes seventy-two gallons troni the rst unit and an oyerdow ot thirteen gallons it will have an oyerdow ot l2 plus t3 r: 85 gallons less el@ gallons discharge, equaling l5 gallons oyerldow which thus returns to the tanh l oit the tiret unit yia one 'ot the pines 3'?, the air dowing trom this tank sert/ine" to drive the `yournas in the manner hereinbeiore set :torthm The oyertlow from eech tant: has the ed'eot ot relieying the tenir trom which -it connes, et nitrogen, and it contains n larger amount ot owgen than the mixture in the tanlr into which the overflow is diseharged, thus enriching the mixture.

lts a single pump would only produce an intermittent dow ot water into and trom the tanlrs, the use of a double punie or two or inore single or double pumps would be more suitable than e single pump tor each inseam pair of tanks to roduce a conunual .dow of water into and rom the tanks, especiall for an apparatus of large capacity and higl pressure, the princi le invo ved being t e same as with a sing e pump to each pair of tanks.

What is claimed is:

1. The herein described method of reducing the proportion of nitrogen to oxygen in air, consisting in directing air under pressure into a high pressure tank, setting up a circulation of water through said tank to saturate the water with oxygen and nitroen, directing the saturated water" into a ow pressure tank to separate the oxygen and nitrogen therefrom, withdrawin the gases from the low pressure tank and irecting them under pressure into a second high pressure tank, directing a current of water through said .tank and through a low pressure tank to produce a mixture having a smaller proportion of nitrogen to oxygen and directing overflow gas from said second high pressure tank back to the rst high pressure tank, and utilizing the overflow high and low unit being utilize from the rst high pressure tank for actuating the air and water forcing means.

2. The herein described method 4of reducing the proportion of nitrogen to oxygen in air consisting in settin up simultaneouslyl So separate circulations o water through the ressure tanks of separate umts, and direc ing air under pressure into the high pressure tanks of the units, to be partly absorbed by the water and conveyed to the low pressure tanks from which the air is conveyed to said air directing means, and returning excess air from the high pressure tank of each unit to the high pressure tank of the next preceding unit, the excess of air in the high ressure tank of the rst to actuate the air and water forcing means.

In testimon that I claim the foregoing as my own, I ave hereto aixed my s1gnature 1n the presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD M. WILEY.

Witnesses:

BnNJAmN- Karolien, WARREN A. RoBIsoN. 

